Research Writing Tip 12
Why do aspiring authors fail to get the attention of journal editors?
Have you wondered why your abstract was turned down? Have you also wondered why the receipt of your abstract was not acknowledged?
The reasons could be any of the (or all of the) following:
1. You did not go through the Call for Paper (CfP) or didn't bother to note down the guidelines given.
Good journals take pains to draft clear guidelines and host them on their website as well as in every CfP they circulate. They are intended to uphold the publishing standards and therefore, editors do not take kindly to any aberration.
2. You typed your abstract into the body of the email.
That is the last thing that editors look for. It's like telling them 'take this' as though in charity. You cannot default more in propriety.
3. Your email enclosed an abstract with just one PFA (or, sometimes not even that). No name, no cover letter, no introductory profile.
Journal editors are accomplished persons themselves. They do know the email IDs of quite a few eminent scholars and experts. It's just that those eminences also know the art of communicating with editors.
Be sure that you are the best known authority on the subject of your choice and, even then, observe some propriety in your communication.
4. You sent your abstract just like that, without consulting the CfP first, well after the closing dates.
Bear in mind that good journals are not worried about how many they publish. They are actually damn concerned about the quality of what they publish.
If an aspiring author does not even read a couple of pages of the CfP, can the editor trust him/her to consult substantial sources and produce an original work, that too in time?
No wonder your abstract was not accepted or even acknowledged.
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Praghna Centre for Research and EJSSS aim to foster scientific inquiry and research skills among emerging scholars. We are equally concerned about grooming communication skill among our interns and aspiring authors.